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Work apace on 330-MW project in TN

R. Y. Narayanan

COIMBATORE, June 4

THE harried industrial and domestic power consumers in Tamil Nadu suffering from frequent power cuts may hope for some respite with the commissioning of the 330.5 MW power project coming up at a cost of about Rs. 1,175 crores in Pillaiperumanallur in Nag apattinam district.

The power project promoted by PPN Power Generating Company Ltd (PPNPGCL) is expected to have the equipment trial runs from October this year and synchronisation with the grid is slated for January next year. The commercial production will start two month s later in April, when normally TNEB resorts to power cut to tide over the summer demand-supply mismatch.

According to Mr. P. Jayaraman, General Manager/Site Coordination, PPNPGCL, the civil works for the project, which began in January 1999, were nearing completion. The major equipment had reached the site and the erection work had started. No slippage in t he schedule was expected, he said.

The 330.5-MW power project was located about 2.5 km from the sea shore. TNEB chose this site because of allocation of natural gas from an offshore well designated as PY-01, he said.

The Nagapattinam District Collector, Mr. Shivdas Meena, speaking to Business Line, said the PPN power project was the largest single industrial investment in the essentially agrarian district and hoped it would give a fillip to the power demand in the re gion.

He said ONGC had two small 5 MW gas turbine power project at Narimanam in the district. There was no hitch over land acquisition for the project and PPN directly negotiated with the landowners for land acquisition.

The company has secured all statutory and non-statutory clearances. Environmental clearances have been obtained from the Ministry of Environment and Forests of the Central Government as also from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board.

Referring to the environment-friendly nature of the project, Mr. Jayaraman said the fuel used for power generation-natural gas and naphtha _ were very environment-friendly.

The technology involved in coal firing used normally in conventional thermal power plants and that in naphtha firing were different. They also had different operating parameters, capital cost etc and both could not be compared.

He said there would not be any effluent discharge into the sea. There was no dislocation of the local people and hence no resettlement of the villagers was involved.

The project GM said the cost as estimated by Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI), was Rs. 1,175 crores. Of this, equity constituted Rs. 352.50 crores. Rupee loan, from a consortium of domestic lenders led by IDBI, was Rs 470 crores. The foreign c urrency loan equivalent to Rs. 352.50 crores was from Japan Bank for International Cooperation-formerly known as Japan Export-Import Bank.

Answering a question, he conceded that the project cost would go up because of the weakening of Indian currency against US dollar and Japanese yen. The impact of the cost escalation was being assessed in consultation with IDBI, he said.

He said apart from the promoter, Apollo Infrastructure Projects Finance Company Ltd, which has a 28-per cent stake in the equity, there were three foreign equity holders _ Marubeni Corporation, Japan (26 per cent equity holding), El Paso Energy Corporati on, US (26 per cent) and PSEG Global, US (20 per cent).

While Marubeni Corporation was the project contractor, the sub-contractors were L&T, Kier International from UK, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Japan and Stone & Webster Ltd, USA/Canada.

The major machinery suppliers were Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Alstom, Turkey, IMODCO, Abu Dhabi, Aquatech International, US, and Foster Wheeler Corporation, Canada.

He said an agreement for the supply of naphtha had been entered into with Indian Oil Corporation. Natural gas had been allocated and fuel supply contract was under negotiation.

The company had entered into a power purchase agreement with TNEB. The cost of generation would be calculated on completed capital cost and the fuel prices at the time of generation, he added.